Have you visited downtown Portland recently? It's really magical time of year for our city center, with the
holiday lighting in place, pop-up shops, the annual "Holidates" promotion, and
SmartPark free parking days in December. On November 8, Portland Mayor Sam
Adams, joined by retailers, downtown property owners and representatives of the
Clean & Safe District came together to celebrate the kick-off of downtown's
holiday shopping season. With the holiday lights up and the pop-up shops open,
downtown is officially open for business this holiday season!

Also new to the downtown retail core are
streetscape improvements as part of the Downtown Retail Strategy. I'd like to
point out a few streetscape improvements – banner armatures with Pioneer
District branding and new planters with native Pacific Northwest landscaping.
Earlier this month, the banners were hung on nearly 50 light posts between Southwest
Third and Tenth Avenues on Yamhill and Morrison.

New planters in the Pioneer District are an example of recent streetscape improvements.

On behalf
of the Downtown Retail Strategy, I testified before Portland City Council,
highlighting the achievements of the strategy's four-year initiative. One main
goal of the strategy was to create a clear retail destination downtown in what
is now branded as the Pioneer District. Along with physical streetscape
improvements, their tactics included supportive marketing, targeted retail
recruitment and strategic investments in redevelopment projects. And thanks to
the Downtown Retail Strategy, about 68 percent of the region's residents have a
positive impression of downtown.

All this and more contributes to the importance of a vibrant
and healthy downtown. Results from the Clean & Safe District's 2011
Business Census and Survey, which were released last week, show that downtown
is a great place to do business. Some highlights of the report findings include
an upward trend in employment within construction and service industries, a new
statistic revealing the amount of wages and income generate by downtown employees,
and, for the eleventh year in a row, a large majority of downtown business
owners feel that downtown is clean and safe. For more
information and to view the entire Downtown Business Census & Survey
results, click here.

Happy holidays!

For more
information about downtown Portland's holiday programming, click here.

For more
information on the Downtown Retail Strategy's recent work, click here.

For more
information about the 2011 Downtown Business Census and Survey, click here.